Research into Digipak Cover

In the following slides are images of the digipak covers of the debut albums of some of the most popular indie/ indie-rock bands in recent times.

Just a quick glance at these images reveals the perhaps surprising fact that most of these album covers do not include clearly identifiable images of the band itself, in fact The Kooks’ ‘Inside In Inside Out’ and The Rumble Strips’ ‘Girls And Weather’ are the only ones to do so, and even these are either cropped or are a mid-shot.

The Kooks – ‘Inside In Inside Out’ (2006)

This is a very simple black and white image of the band performing. The image has the feeling of being shabbily composed, or even having no deliberate composition at all, since both members of the band featured on each side have been effectively cut in half due to the cropping. The shabbiness of the composition is also reflected in the mise-en-scene as members of the band are all wearing casual costumes, making it so they’re not in costume at all but rather in their everyday clothing. The band seems uninterested or even unaware of the camera, not one of them is facing it and it’s difficult to clearly identify the facial features of even one member of the group. The drummer can only be seen in the reflection of the mirror, with his back to the camera. Everything about the composition and mise-en-scene suggests simplicity and a feeling of being care-free. The text at the top of the image is also in a very simple font and arrangement.

This shabbiness or laziness in all aspects of the image, however, creates a sense of both intimacy and distance. Distance because of the large, plain white space in the upper area of the image, because of the depth created by the mirror and because the cropping of the edges creates a kind of tension, but also intimacy because the two members of the group on each side are facing each other and because all three guitars are pointing in the same direction and are almost touching. It can be seen as almost an invitation for someone to walk into the image and close the distance.

In a sense this is quite a brave image to use as the cover of a debut album, given its lack of flair, formality or the audience’s ability to recognise/ relate to members of the band. However, it is likely that this is exactly the kind of image The Kooks want for themselves, partly because their songs are also very laid-back but mainly because it is all in keeping with the ‘indie image’, which is largely rooted in independence and anti-commercialism. This album cover is therefore likely to appeal to members of an indie target audience, who are mainly young people (both male and female, according to my audience research), aged 15-20. Indie groups often express clear sets of ideologies (of being independent and anti-commercialist, among others) which sets them apart from many mainstream artists, often from the pop/ hip-hop/ R&B genres, who have a tendency towards being very glamorous and, arguably, materialistic. Consequently, The Kook’s rejection of mainstream conventions is one of the key factors which makes them appealing for a section of the young audience, who are themselves seeking to be recognised as independent.

Razorlight – ‘Up All Night’ (2004)

Here there is no clearly identifiable image of the band or any member of it. As with The Kooks’ ‘Inside In Inside Out’, a fairly large area of the image is made up of blank white space, and the title of the album and the name of the band is simplistically arranged. The actual content of the image, however, is made up of seemingly random and seemingly worthless items (e.g. scribbled notes, postcards, pictures, a key etc.), yet all of which are very personal. It is likely that these items represent personal memories and the way in which they may seem worthless but to the individual concerned they mean everything, which in turn is likely to be an anti-commercialist message advertising the band’s ideologies in order to attract an audience with similar ones. In other words, perhaps the main selling point for the band is in their ideologies rather in the physical image of the band, as the case may be in other genres (e.g. hip-hop, where the selling point of the artist tends to be the appearance and desirability of the artist – an example is 50 Cent’s ‘Get Rich Or Die Tryin’’, which features only an image of himself topless).

The Arctic Monkeys – ‘What Ever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not’ (2006)

This is both the most audacious and controversial album cover of the lot, yet at the same time is the most successful. The close-up shot is not of a member of the band, but of Chris McClure, a friend of the band, after he, his cousin and his best mate were given £70 by the band to spend on a night out. The picture was taken in the early hours of the following morning. The image caused controversy after being criticized by the head of Scotland’s NHS, claiming that it “reinforced the idea that smoking is ok”. However, despite the controversy and despite that fact that no member of the band is featured at all in the image, the album is the fastest selling album in British history, selling almost 120, 000 copies by the first day and selling over 363, 700 copies by the end of the first week, which was more than the rest of the Top 20 combined. Of course, the contribution of the album cover to this success cannot be determined; however it is evident that it didn’t deter audiences. It is precisely the shock value and the audacity to not include an airbrushed image of the band which makes the band seem appealing, giving them the image of being original and completely care-free.

It is clear that the objective of an album cover is to grab the attention of potential customers. In a sense, we could therefore argue that the stranger or more bizarre an album cover is, the more successful it is in achieving this objective. This appears to be what indie bands are trying to achieve with their album covers. In doing so, the presence of the artist/ band may not be necessary, as long as the cover has something original which will attract attention to itself.

The Rumble Strips – ‘Girls and Weather’ (2007)

In this album cover the band is present – in a mid-shot, however, so that it’s not easy for us to clearly remember the face of any band member. The band is, rather bizarrely, attempting to lift an enormous bass drum over a Cliffside. Because this is such a pointless scene, we can only assume that the purpose of it is to create shock value and grab our attention.

Franz Ferdinand – ‘Franz Ferdinand’ (2004)

This is as simple as it gets. There is no image whatsoever, not of the band, not of anything else. You could argue that it’s dull or a bad way of marketing the band given the fact that it’s a debut album, yet on release it entered the UK Album Charts at #3.

Kasabian – ‘Kasabian’ (2004)

This is another extremely simple design, again demonstrating that simplicity, even without the band, can be effective.

The Smiths – ‘The Smiths’ (1984)

The cover of this debut album features American actor Joe D’Alessandro in a still from Andy Warhol's 1968 film Flesh. The image is certainly eye-catching and instantly links the band to two other aspects of popular culture; film and art. This is likely to appeal to the band’s target audience, as my own audience research has suggested that watching films is one of the top interests of an indie audience. Furthermore, Andy Warhol was an influential artist who set himself apart from many of his established contemporaries through a series of shocking works; therefore a link with him is also likely to appeal to an indie target audience.

In conclusion, I have learnt through my research that the most important thing thatan effective album cover must do is to attract attention to itself, as by doing this it increases the chance of a browsing customer picking it up and perhaps buying it. my research has also shown that for an album cover to achieve this the inclusion of an image of the band is not necessary. In fact, since many albums tend to include images of the band, it may be more shocking and therefore more attention-grabbing to not include an image of the band, even if the band is unknown. This is perhaps especially the case for indie bands, as much of their appeal relies upon being a little different from mainstream bands. This is reflected in my research, as only one out of the seven debut album covers that I have looked at here included a close-up image of members of the band. These bands have instead used designs which are either creative or very simple to stand out and grab the customer’s attention.